


midnight

by elisa_pie



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, New Year's Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 19:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13219845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisa_pie/pseuds/elisa_pie
Summary: "Oh, I don't know," Jared chimes in. "I think it's all rather romantic."





	midnight

**Author's Note:**

> Just some silly holiday fluff. This is inspired by Rainbow Rowell's wonderful short story Midnights (in the book Almost Midnight). That story is really good and you should probably go read it instead of this. She writes the best kisses.

"Maybe we should go," Gilfoyle says. "Then Dinesh can try to find a woman willing to let him kiss her at midnight."

"Oh shut up," Dinesh says. "I could totally find someone to kiss and I wouldn't have to go to some lame party for that. Besides, that's such a cliche. Totally overrated."

"Oh, I don't know," Jared chimes in. "I think it's all rather romantic. The magic of that moment, sharing that look with someone..."

"What look? What are you guys talking about?" Richard asks as he comes into the room.

"Kissing someone on New Year's Eve," Gilfoyle answers, sounding bored with the conversation already. "Jared seems to think it's magical, and Dinesh here thinks it's something that can actually happen to him if we go to this party Jared got invites to."

"You're just jealous because you don't have anyone to kiss," Dinesh says.

"Like hell I am," Gilfoyle answers. "There are plenty of people willing to kiss me."

Richard tunes out their bickering and turns to Jared.

"What party?"

*

In the end Gilfoyle and Dinesh decide against the party, choosing to play video games and drink beer as the year changes instead. It sounds much more appealing than the party to Richard, too. But Jared seems so excited to be invited that when he asks if Richard wants to come, Richard finds himself saying yes.

He starts to regret his decision as soon as they enter the party. Everything’s too loud and too bright, and there are a lot of people. Richard ends up sending most of the time hanging out with Jared in a slightly less loud corner of the room which turns out to be an excellent distraction.

The music is pretty loud, so Jared’s been leaning into him a little as they talk, and it's, well. Nice. Jared feels warm, and he smells amazing. Richard wonders why he's never noticed that before. Maybe Jared doesn't wear any aftershave at work. Maybe he's never been this close to Jared before, and Richard finds the thought a little thrilling.

When Jared goes to get them new drinks Richard starts worrying about keeping Jared from enjoying the rest of the party. The way Jared had been talking about the party before, about sharing a special moment with someone at midnight — Richard realises belatedly that maybe Jared had wanted to meet new people, to talk and flirt with them, instead of being stuck with Richard all night. By the time Jared comes back with two drinks, Richard’s worked himself up about it, feeling a little nauseous. 

"Here you go! A drink for my captain,” Jared says as he offers Richard one of the glasses and playfully salutes him.

Richard gulps down his drink a little too quickly. It burns down his throat, and Jared gives him a strange look as he coughs, which just makes Richard panic more.

“So, um. You like the party?” Richard asks anxiously.

“Yes, very much. It’s just like I imagined. No jello shots, though,” Jared says and smiles at him.

“Oh, okay,” Richard says, surprised. 

_Just like he imagined?_ But Jared has spent the whole evening talking to Richard and drinking alcohol, and they could have easily done that at the hostel, with Dinesh and Gilfoyle... oh, right. Maybe that’s what Jared means. Well, it definitely is nice to hang out together like this, without the rest of the guys bothering them.

“But what about the midnight kiss thing?" Richard asks, suddenly remembering. “You were talking about that before, like it was the most romantic thing.”

"Oh, it is," Jared says, a dreamy look on his face. "Very romantic. But, of course, in reality it’s much more complicated. There is the issue of consent — you can't just grab someone without warning, in a public place full of people. Not everyone likes that, even if it is a New Year’s Eve tradition of sorts."

"Right. Okay. But if you want it to be a surprise?" Richard insists, not sure why this is so important to him. "How-how can you make sure? That it's okay?"

"Oh, you just have to do the look," Jared says, like that explains it.

"Yeah, you were talking about that before. What, uh. What does that mean, exactly?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain, but it's just sort of... communicating wordlessly, I suppose. Looking at someone with a question in your eyes. Asking, and hoping that the answer is yes."

"Oh, um. Right," Richard says. 

He’s nodding like he understands what Jared is talking about, but really, he has no clue. Richard has never been particularly good at flirting, or just talking to people in general, so apparently a lot of the fine details of romantic interactions have just gone over his head. He’s thankful for the change of topic when a new song starts and Jared starts bobbing his head to the beat, explaining how much he enjoyed this particular band while he was at Vassar.

As they keep talking about this and that, about past holidays and plans for the new year, Richard is still a little bit distracted, thinking about kissing. He starts to wonder what it would be like, having someone look at him — how did Jared put it? with a question in their eyes? — and then it hits him. 

That's the way Jared looks at him. That’s the way Jared has been looking at him, so often that Richard feels like an idiot for not having seen it before.

As Richard is busy having this epiphany, Jared keeps sipping his drink and watching the people on the dancefloor, seeming perfectly content. Richard stares at him, trying to think how he would answer the question that Jared has apparently been asking him for months now, patiently waiting for Richard to notice. And then he knows the perfect answer.

"Hey, uh, Jared?"

"Yes?" Jared says, turning to face him.

"Do you, um. Were you gonna go and dance or something?”

“No, why — oh, Richard, are you asking me to dance?” Jared says. His eyes go wide, his expression so hopeful, and—yeah. If Richard wasn’t sure before, he definitely is now.

"No, no, sorry, I. No. But I wanted to, uh, show you something. On the balcony. Outside. Because it's. The stars. And it would be better. If you wanna."

"Of course! I could do with some fresh air," Jared says and puts their drinks down on the table. “Lead the way, captain!”

"Yeah, that's... okay. Yeah. Come on."

They make their way through the party and out to the balcony, and then Richard starts feeling nervous. It's so much quieter here, just the faint sound of music coming from the party. Which would be great for talking, but wasn't the whole point not using words and letting your eyes do all the talking? What if he can't do that, it seemed pretty important from the way Jared described it, and he desperately wants to get this right. 

"Richard?"

"Yeah?"

"You said you wanted to show me something?"

"Yeah, no, that was—”

Then the music stops inside and someone starts a countdown. Richard swallows nervously, feeling a swoop in his stomach. He's really going to do this. There is no other choice. He's not going to push Jared back into the party to find someone else to share the perfect midnight kiss with. He doesn't want Jared kissing anyone else.

So Richard steps closer and looks into Jared's eyes. He's still terrified of getting this wrong, somehow, afraid of looking too anxious or stony faced. He tries to make his expression soft, thinks about the question without actually saying the words _Can I kiss you?_ At least Jared isn't running away, although his eyes are very wide and he's breathing faster. Richard hopes it's a good sign as he closes his eyes and leans in, hands hovering on Jared's shoulders, when the countdown ends.

Their lips meet in a sweet, gentle kiss just as the clock strikes midnight. Richard moves back, just a little, not wanting to move away completely or to open his eyes just yet. He gets what Jared was talking about earlier, the magic of this moment, how soft and hazy everything feels.

“Was it—was that okay?" Richard whispers against Jared's mouth. "Did I do it righ—"

Before he can finish his question or start feeling anxious again, Jared crushes their mouths together, clutching at Richard and bringing their bodies flush together. Richard does his best to hold on, moaning against Jared's mouth and kissing him back. They stumble a little and break off the kiss, laughing. Richard finally opens his eyes to see Jared grinning at him, looking happier than Richard has ever seen him. 

“Oh, Richard,” Jared breaths out. “This is perfect.”


End file.
